[Correspondent’s column] How Japanese right-wingers attack freedom of expression

Posted on : 2021-07-02 17:40 KST Modified on : 2021-07-02 17:40 KST
Right-wing groups in Japan have begun engaging in intimidation
A child sits next to a comfort woman statue at an exhibition at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in 2019. (Cho Ki-weon/The Hankyoreh)
A child sits next to a comfort woman statue at an exhibition at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in 2019. (Cho Ki-weon/The Hankyoreh)

Located in a residential section of Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood, the area around the Session House gallery garden started becoming quite noisy this past May 6. Strangers showed up walking through the side streets and chanting loud slogans. On some days, they would use vehicles and loudspeakers.

“Stop the anti-Japanese exhibits! Stop with the comfort women statues!”

These were members of right-wing groups attempting to stop an exhibition titled “After ‘Freedom of Expression’?”, which was scheduled to run from June 25 to July 4. They appeared to have been spurred into coordinated action by the inclusion of items, including a statue symbolizing victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese military.

As the intimidation tactics continued, the gallery finally gave in. It notified the exhibitors that it could not loan out the space it had already promised them on the grounds that it could not allow the inconvenience to local residents to continue.

The exhibition’s Tokyo organizing committee, which includes members of Japanese civic groups responsible for planning the event, looked all around to find an alternate location, but nothing was available. For now, the exhibition remains on hold.

Another “After ‘Freedom of Expression’?” exhibition scheduled to take place in Osaka has run into similar roadblocks.

It had been slated to appear at the Osaka Prefectural Labor Center (L-Osaka) for three days from July 16 to 18, but the location lease was recently canceled. As right-wingers began mobilizing their phones and vehicles to protest, the exhibition ended up being stopped on account of “impediments to visitor safety.”

Something similar happened in Japan two years ago. An Aichi Triennale special exhibition held in Nagoya in 2019 included a comfort woman statue. The event ended up being discontinued after three days due to intimidation tactics by right-wingers.

It isn’t just the comfort women statues that have run into problems. In May 2021, right-wingers threatened two Japanese cinemas with calls to halt the screening of the Korean documentary “Wolf Letter.”

The film follows the four-decade saga of Japanese people responsible for a bombing committed in the mid-1970s against a Japanese company implicated in war crimes. Then, too, right-wingers mobilized vehicles all day long with chants of “Yamero!” — “Stop!” in Japanese. One of the cinemas finally canceled the screening.

Like a mathematical equation, there’s been a particular pattern to ways in which the “freedom of expression” stipulated in Article 21 of Japan’s Constitution has crumbled. Right-wing groups have begun engaging in intimidation, and the institutions have backed out of lending their gallery space, citing “safety issues” and “inconvenience to residents.”

In a recent interview with the Japanese weekly Aera, journalist Koichi Yasuda, author of the book “The ‘Internet Right’ Takes to the Streets,” offered his take on the situation.

“These [exhibition sabotage] activities by right-wingers are forms of racial discrimination and chauvinism that adopt ‘anti-Japanese messaging’ as a key theme. They’re exploiting the weaknesses of a Japanese society that is incapable of responding appropriately,” he said.

What makes the Japanese right’s cries of “Yamero!” so scary is not simply the persistent threats they pose.

Even more frightening is the situation Yasuda describes, where the branding of issues of military sexual slavery as “anti-Japanese” fosters the kind of atmosphere where people feel free to disregard the freedom of expression that should rightly be guaranteed in a democratic state. The Japanese government has been leading the way in marshaling its diplomatic resources to stop the raising of comfort women statues and the holding of exhibitions overseas.

Within Japan, there are people battling this trend, which they see as a serious problem.

In a press conference, “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’” Tokyo organizing committee member Yuka Okamoto said, “We strongly protest attempts to take away the freedom of expression through violent attacks.”

“We will go ahead with the exhibition as soon as we find a venue,” she added. The Osaka organizing committee members are pursuing a legal response, asking a court to suspend the execution of L-Osaka’s lease cancellation.

Members of the Japanese public have been offering their support. Six hundred tickets for the Tokyo exhibition were sold in advance, and messages of support have been pouring in.

“If you need a security volunteer, I’m available,” one person wrote. “Even if you suffer harassment by people who disregard human rights, we’ll just be creating the censorship society they want if you back down now. Stay strong.”

People like these show their support for allowing people in Japan to see the comfort women statue in short order.

Kim So-youn
Kim So-youn

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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